Exhibition of Axel Cumps Now Showing at Le Monde des Flamboyants

16.05.2014, Kinshasa, DRC – TMB is pleased to invite you to an exhibition of Axel Cumps’ paintings to be held from Friday 16 May to Saturday 21 June, at “Le Monde des Flamboyants”.

Le Monde des Flamboyant is the permanent cultural centre created by TMB at its regional headquarters in Kinshasa. The exhibition marks the first time Le Monde des Flamboyants has exhibited a Belgian artist.

Born into a family of artists, Axel Cumps started painting and drawing in his childhood. Following his studies he entered the Belgian diplomatic service, taking up posts in numerous countries. However, he never left the artistic world and continued to draw, sometimes with only sketches on the bottom of pages or on the covers of files. In 2008, whilst in Lisbon he returned to painting, choosing acrylic. He feels he’s been formed by the remarkable light that exists in Portugal.

Axel Cumps chose abstraction as a mode of expression following an encounter that happened a few years earlier with Bernard Gilbert, whose work he admires. The work of Pierre Alechinsky filled him with joy and admiration; he found the inspiration of some of his paintings in this famous Belgian painter.

In Kinshasa since 2012, he rediscovered traditional Congolese art and made some paintings in a form inspired by the art.

Axel Cumps is an artist who feels a need for painting, but who, in his own words, does not take himself seriously. “If I started painting, it is first for fun”, he said.

The exhibition is free and open to all members of the public, from Monday to Friday, from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm and on Saturday, from 8.00 am to 12.00 pm.

Le Monde des Flamboyants
1 Place du Marché – Gombe – Kinshasa
Tel. : 081 831 0050